White Sun - The Three Vehicles

In the teachings of Tao of Heaven, there are manyof himself to enter or leave the body at will. Even for
books written by the Heavenly Beings including thethose few fortunate ones who achieved such
Holy Beings from the Underworld, confessions of theaccomplishment, they are still bounded by the
suffering souls from Hell, ghosts, devils and even"Hou-tien" (space where all lives live after Heaven and
souls of animals. All these took place in the TempleEarth were created). Thus, if one extends his faith
of Tao of Heaven and there are two ways ofinto his understanding of the Truth, then extends his
teachings. One in the form of olden scriptures whereunderstanding into his daily practice, and finally
divine messages were delivered in poems and veryextends his practice into his confirmation of Tao, he
deep sayings and the other way is the moderncan then become a Sage or a Deity in "Qi-tien"
layman way of teaching using simple words for easy(Heaven of Spirit). This is the gradual realization and
understanding. The Three Vehicles of Dharmathe Middle Vehicle of Dharma.The Lesser
explained by Heaven is as follows:The GreaterVehicle.Those who attend sermons, pray, participate
Vehicle.The Greater Vehicle of Dharma is the Truein charity works, or donate money to help the poor
Dharma, and has a line of heritage. The True Dharmaand the needy are following the law of karma. A
stays inert when it should and manifests Itself whenBuddhist Sutra states, "If asking about the cause
the time comes. Transmitting the True Dharma canfrom prior lives, it is what you receive this life. If
bring sudden realization to a person. Suddenasked about the reward in next life, it is what you do
realization means that one can be enlightened whenthis life". Those who perform good deeds in their
Tao of Heaven is transmitted to him by thecurrent lives pave rewards for next lives. When they
Enlightened Teacher with The Heavenly Decreeuse up their rewards, they go back into the cycle of
through the secret verbal message and the meetingbirth, death and rebirth, just like an arrow that was
of the hearts. Transmitting Tao of Heaven isshot into the sky will come back to Earth when it
transmitting the True Dharma. Upon the transmissionexhausted itself. Since the practice of performing
of Tao of Heaven, one may even instantly become agood deeds will only keep the practitioner as a good
Buddha, taking the gaint step of transcending theperson, it is the Lesser Vehicle of Dharma. This
"Qi-tien" (Heaven of Spirit) and the returning topractice cannot help one to return to "Li-tien"
"Li-tien" (Heaven of Truth). Tao of Heaven is so(Heaven of Truth or the Void).My Heavenly Master
precious that whoever receives It becomes aJiGong said, "The heart of Stableness must be
Buddha or a Saint, and It has never been transmittedpurified on earth. The path of Full Enlightenment must
lightly before. This is why Confucius said, "One whobe accomplished in the world. Break away with the
awakes to Tao in the morning will not have anyForm and Shape Affairs of the Door of Emptiness!
regret even if he dies in the same night".This isShould one's mind be free from dust (external
further confirmed by "Hui Neng," the Sixth Patriarch indisturbances), why does one need to wear the
The Sutra on Prajna (wisdom) as follows:"In thekasaya?""Heart of Stableness" means a state of mind
future, if an initiate of my dharma should make awhere one can stay calm and unperturbed in all
vow in company with his fellow disciples to devoteexternal forms and conditions, known as "Dhyana" in
his whole life without retrogression to the practice ofSanskrit and "Zen" in Japanese."Form and Shape
the teaching of this "sudden" dharma, in the sameAffair" explains that some religious staff who lived in
spirit and dedication as that for serving Buddha, hetemples or monasteries may not realize the true
would reach without failure the Path of Holiness. Butessence of Emptiness. On one hand, they are
this righteous person must be transmitted'detached' with the forms and shapes of a worldly life
confidentially from heart to heart the instructionsuch as family, career, etc; but on the other hand,
handed down from the past Patriarchs; and yet nothey 'dwell on' the forms and shapes of a 'divine' life
attempt should be made to conceal this method ofsuch as religious rituals, creed, spiritual honor, merit,
immediacy".The Middle Vehicle.Buddhism emphasizesetc."Door of Emptiness" means monasteries or
Zen, seeking enlightenment through introspection andnunneries. Buddhism holds that within the universe, all
meditation. Through this practice, miseries can beconditional things and affairs that bear shapes and
demolished and salvation is brought to all. Taoismforms are essentially Empty. They are just a
emphasizes the refinement of vitality into spirit, andgathering and dispersion of Causes, Conditions and
then from spirit into soul. This practice circulates theConsequences and hence do not contain a real nature
spiritual energy inside the body through the meridians,and constant value."Kasaya (Jia-Sha)" means the
and finally interacting the spirit of fire from the heartthree regulation-garments of a buddhist monk. Here,
and the spirit of water from the kidneys to coagulateJia-Sha refers to the 'uniform' of all religious
into the immortal embryo. This methodology appliespersonnel.Author: T.A ChewT.A Chew, in 1995 was
abdominal breathing techniques to start the process,told by a medium through a Taoist Holy Book that he
and utilizes soft breathing techniques to incubate,was a monk in one of his previous lives in China. In
coagulating the spirit and the soul. Finally, a flash ofthat huge temple, there were a lot of a certain kind
the true "yang" (fire) or the true "yin" (water) willof flowers favored by the Emperor and he was a
appear, allowing either the "Yin-shen" (the 'yin' spiritualpreacher there. In this life he has to do the same
image) or the "Yang-shen" (the 'yang' spiritual image)thing, but it is Tao of Heaven.